Pakistan blamed for Kashmir violence

Hundreds have been killed so far this year in Kashmir

SRINAGAR, India -- Indian authorities blame Pakistan for increased militant violence on the Kashmir border that has left hundreds dead.

A spokesman said rebels had killed 527 civilians between January and July this year. Militants also abducted 235 people and killed 91 of them.

According to a statement from the spokesman for the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistani troops have "stepped up terrorist violence . . . notwithstanding their continued talk of peace with India."

The pro-Pakistan militants "are picking up soft targets and killing more and more innocent people," the government statement said.

Separatist violence in Kashmir has increased since last month's inconclusive summit between India and Pakistan.

The statement said that in July, Pakistani troops fired across the Kashmir border at least 690 times.

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"While 854 such incidents took place in the first six months of the current year . . . In these incidents 13 people were killed and 34 injured," the statement said.

Indian police said on Tuesday they had killed a district commander of a Pakistan-based rebel group, said to be the mastermind behind a recent massacre of Hindu villagers in Kashmir.

Abu Ghulam, a commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba group and a Pakistan national, was killed in a clash with police on Monday night near Atholi village, a senior police official told Reuters.

Suspected guerrillas abducted 20 Hindu villagers from Atholi village over the weekend and shot 17 of them dead.

Officials in Jammu had suspected the Lashkar-e-Taiba was behind both incidents, but the rebel group denied involvement and called on international human rights groups to investigate.

Line of Control

A 470-mile Line of Control or cease-fire line divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

According to police more than 200 people including 128 rebels have been killed since the end of the India-Pakistan summit.

The India-Pakistan summit was the first time leaders of the nuclear neighbors had met for talks for two years

India, which controls 45 percent of Kashmir, accuses Pakistan of arming and aiding Kashmiri militants. Pakistan denies the charge and says it only provides moral and diplomatic support to the separatists in its third of the territory.

India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since they won independence from Britain in 1947.

At least a dozen militant groups are fighting New Delhi's rule in Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state.

Authorities say more than 30,000 people have been killed in the region since a rebellion broke out in late 1989. Separatists put the toll closer to 80,000.

Dialogue the only answer

India has said dialogue is the only way out of half a century of hostility with Pakistan, but accuses its bitter foe of coming unprepared to last month's summit, causing it to collapse.

Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh also warned Islamabad that it would descend into political and social anarchy, like neighboring Afghanistan, if it did not curb what he said was its support for militant groups.

"If there was any preparation it was from India's side," Singh told the lower house of parliament during a discussion about the meeting on Monday.

India claims Pakistan was 'unprepared' for the bilateral talks

"There was no prepared text on the Pakistan side (ahead of the talks). The notes for an intervention by the Pakistani president were made on the table when the Indian prime minister was making his presentation," he said.

The summit ended without an agreement as the nuclear- capable neighbors got bogged down over the long-running dispute over Kashmir.

However, the two leaders did agree to continue talks.

"Other than sitting and talking to Pakistan, we can't do much more," Singh told opposition lawmakers who had earlier criticized the government for the abortive summit and accused it of going in unprepared and without a formal agenda.

He said the "caravan of peace" was in motion and the "dogs of war" could not be allowed to succeed.

Reuters contributed to this report.